24: The Union
by Matt123
Summary: With an oil embargo betweem the US and Venezuela turning nasty, war is about to break out. But on the same day America faces its greatest enemy: international terrorism. Its left to Jack Bauer to save the day. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

24: The Union Background:

America was left rocked by the news that the first African-American President, David Palmer had resigned due to the murder of his wife. The Democratic election campaign turned into a disaster and Jim Prescott lost the election to Senator John Keeler.

It was all smiles in the White House, but that didn't last long. In Caracas, Venezuela, an extreme right wing politician, Juan Gomez, seized the Presidency after a violent gunfight in the city streets. With over two hundred civilian casualties the UN tried to step in.

Venezuela is a rapidly growing country in terms of revenue and its increasing military power and infrastructure. Gomez has been seen conspiring with Iranian President Naji Araz, and both the UN and President John Keeler both believe that they are beginning a nuclear weapons programme.

Knowing that the Americans distrust him, Gomez has stopped all oil exports to America and its allies. As a result of this the Russian government has switched allegiance and is now an ally to the Venezuelan government. China and India have done the same, but have also become allied with the corrupt Saudi and Iraqi governments.

In the midst of a national crisis, President John Keeler decided to sign an anti-arms treaty with the Iranians.

The war for oil had begun…

The Los Angeles branch of CTU was going under some serious changes as well, both at the Domestic and Divisional levels. Erin Driscoll became the new Special Agent in Charge, taking the job from Tony Almeida, who was serving a reduced prison sentence or treason.

James Radford had replaced the deceased Ryan Chappelle as the new head of Division, and was less by the book, but demanded more results.

Secretary of Defence, James Heller recruited the retired CTU agent, Jack Bauer to act as his senior advisor. During his ten months serving with Heller, Bauer developed a serious romantic relationship with his daughter, Audrey Raines.

But nobody could predict what was soon going to happen…

Notes: 

I do not know if this story will fit into 24 hours. I think it will probably run over 24 hours as I'm making it up as I go, much like the writers.

The events take place between Seasons Three and Seasons Five, and are effectively my take of Season Four.

The story will contain action, suspense, conspiracies and plot twists, much like the programme. I'm hoping to stick to the programme as much as possible.

Some Season Five characters will be used, particularly in the Government Agency Hierarchy.

I hope you enjoy the story and please, please review!

24 Characters:

Jack Bauer

Tony Almeida

Michelle Dessler

Chloe O'Brian

Edgar Stiles

David Palmer

President John Keeler

Vice President Charles Logan

Note:

Many other characters from the show will be used, as well as my own. Lastly I hope you enjoy and I urge you to review.


	2. Prologue

Prologue:

The sun was beating down on Mexico City. The air was humid and the streets packed. Busy market stalls continued to sell the latest produce. It was a big day for them, and an ideal chance to pull in revenue.

However at 4:00pm a number of people were walking home. Their peak had gone, but for another man his peak was just coming.

Ramon Enrique ran the enormously well renowned restaurant, Café Americano. His signature dish was his Chilli Con Carne, rumoured to be the best in Central America. As sweat dripped down his face, the black haired Enrique continued to produce meals.

The restaurant was packed and only one table remained. It was outside, exposed to the beautiful weather and was reserved for a special guest: Ricardo Diaz. And in five hours, Ramon was set to meet him.

Ricardo Diaz was the type of man you would want your mother to see. Arguably America's most popular businessman, he had a reputation for being the nicest man on the planet.

Ricardo Diaz arrived at the Café. He had booked an outside seating area for eight. He was short in stature and suffered from a Napoleon complex, and sweat was clearly visible on the top of his head, of which there was a lack of hair, and any he had was receding.

Diaz was wearing a colorful red shirt, with the three top buttons undone, showing his hairy chest. His white trousers were designer and the gold cross he wore cost well over fifteen thousand dollars.

Ricardo Diaz ran a hugely successful oil company, Diaz Oil Ltd. It was the most successful oil company in the world and rigged the majority of its oil in Alaska and Venezuela. According to the Forbes 400, he had a total of thirty-six billion dollars at his disposal. Part of that was gained in property companies and gambling, in which Diaz was a major player.

He was also one of the most popular men in America as he gave over a billion dollars to charity per six months. Diaz was responsible for the opening of many clinics which helped rehabilitate many drug addicts. He funded these hospitals and quickly became America's favorite man.

But there was another side to this man.

The truth about Ricardo Diaz was that he was an extremely dangerous and volatile man. Despite being an extremely popular philanthropist, Diaz was no angel, in fact he was closer to the devil.

Diaz was born in 1941 in the suburbs of Cali, Columbia. His father, Juan used to run errands for the Salazar Drug Cartel as he needed money to feed his wife, Claudia and his son. Ricardo was twelve when his father introduced him to the drug's business. Ricardo began to deal on the streets with his father.

When Diaz was fourteen his father was told to participate in a drug deal with an American business man. Juan was double-crossed and murdered by an unknown assault team. Claudia committed suicide and Ricardo was left homeless.

The Head of the Salazar Cartel, Raul, took Ricardo in as his apprentice. When Diaz was twenty-one he uncovered that Raul was responsible for the murder his parents, he was attacked by Raul's henchmen and nearly killed. After a year away in exile Ricardo came back and killed Raul, taking over the cartel.

Diaz was kidnapped by a new drug lord, Franz Sanchez. He was interrogated for a week inside the compound but was eventually rescued by his henchmen. Knowing he was no longer safe in Colombia, Diaz and his associates attempted to smuggle themselves through the American-Mexican border with the assistance of some corrupt officials at the INS.

He and his men were captured but eventually bribed their way out of custody. Diaz then went to Los Angeles and set up his businesses, which were fronts.

Diaz dealt illegally in oil as well as drugs. He controlled Miami's drug industry and soon became a multi-billionaire.

In the criminal underworld, he was feared for his unpredictable behavior and ruthlessness. Diaz was responsible for the murders of eighteen people and had a private militia at his disposal.

It was evening in Mexico City, and they were gradually getting warmer, although Ricardo Diaz still felt slightly cold. A steaming hot bowl of chilli would get rid of that problem though.

The night sky was full with stars, adding to the beauty of the city at this current point. Pollution in Mexico City was always a problem, but for Ricardo Diaz it was barely noticeable. He worked in the oil business after all.

The starry night sky made Ricardo comfortable as he strolled into the restaurant with ease.

"Welcome, Mr Diaz." The Café Americano owner, Ramon Enrique said, sweat running down his cheek. It had been a tiring day in the kitchen. "Can I get drinks?"

"We'll wait." Ricardo Diaz said and noticed Mohammed and Bazir Khan walking towards them with three bodyguards. All looked to be carrying handguns so the Khans were prepared and so was Diaz. Next to him was Pablo, a quite literally mentally insane man who he hired to do his dirty work and further to his left was Juan Hernandez, another bodyguard and firearms expert.

Mohammed and Bazir Khan arrived at the Café with three bodyguards. They were of Iranian birth but had made their living in Saudi Arabia as oil magnates. Unlike Diaz, the Khans were known as illegitimate businessmen, to the extent that they had been placed on the WET (Western European Terrorist) as a known terrorist.

These men were ruthless by nature, both had shaven black hair but Mohammed had a beard. Both were Middle-Aged and devoted to the Koran. They were multi-billionaires and they funded and lead their own terrorist group, the MLA, the Muslim Liberation Army.

The MLA had ties to Al Qaeda but was on a smaller scale. Suicide bombers in the Gaza Strip were as far as they had gone. That changed in 1999 when the MLA kidnapped Prince Uda Bin Sali of the Saudi Arabian royal family. It later became one of the most famous acts of terror ever, when they streamed his torture and execution over the internet.

The kidnapping was believed to have occurred because the Saudis had aided America in their operations in the Middle-East, although it was never confirmed by either of the Khan Brothers. Saudi intelligence agencies were blamed for the failed rescue of Sali which they participated in along with US Special Forces.

"You must be the Khans?" Ricardo asked, cocking his Browning BDM semi-automatic pistol.

"Yes, we are." Mohammed replied. "Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Diaz replied and handed the Khans a menu. "The Chili is the best in Central America."

"Thanks," Bazir said, trying to be courteous.

"Waiter?" Ricardo shouted.

"Yes sir." The waiter replied.

"Eight Chili Con Carnes."

The waiter left the table and Ricardo looked around the oval table.

"Now down to business," Ricardo said.

"Thank you for attending, Mr Diaz." Mohammed, the eldest began. "We understand and appreciate the fact you came out of your way to attend this meeting at such short notice."

"It is no problem." Ricardo replied. _Their English was good, _Diaz thought. "As it happens I was getting frustrated with internet connection and the constant coded messages. The Americans are so much hassle."

"Yes," Bazir agreed. "But the aim of today is to discuss plans for the downfall of America. And hopefully, they won't be hassling us for too much longer."

"Look I'm a man who likes to get straight to the point." Diaz smiled. "So why the hell did you two contact me?"

"We know about your real business, Ricardo." Bazir began to explain. "You, Mohammed and I have a confluence of interests. We all the same enemy; the United States of America."

"The enemy part is true." Diaz nodded. For too long the DEA had interfered with his narcotics shipments. "What about the interests? I'm not planning on any terrorist acts on America."

"You have assets that I and my brother could use." Mohammed was always the quick talker. "And we have our assets, for which we believe you may well have use for."

"I understand." Ricardo licked his lips. There was a long pause as both parties gathered their thoughts. "What can you offer me?" The short Colombian exhibited his greed willingly.

"You need to establish a reliable narcotics network in the European mainland." Mohammed replied. "Correct?"

"Yes I do." European police agencies were clever systems and they had foiled a number of Diaz's shipments.

"We have a network like that." Bazir revealed, tempting the drug lord.

"In return for what?" Diaz knew there was a catch.

"You have a similar network in America; you have friends in high places." Mohammed said. "We would like to obtain use of that network for our goals."

"Your goals being what?"

"To arrange a series of terrorist attacks on Los Angeles in the same day. And for that we need to enlist a lot of help; mainly from you but some high ranking counter intelligence officials willing to look the other way for a small fee or the promise of power." Mohammed explained. "And first we need access to America and a wide range of firearms."

"What are we talking?" Ricardo grinned.

"At last you ask." Bazir smiled, although Diaz didn't appreciate the joke. "A wide range of semi-automatic pistols; but the majority Heckler & Koch P2000's. Submachine guns – Ingram and the MP5 families. Assault rifles – AK's."

"You have made quite a list." Ricardo noted.

"It's called preparation." Mohammed defended his brother. "That isn't it."

"You mean there's more?"

"Quite a lot more. We would also like to purchase a number of explosive charges and enriched weapons grade plutonium."

"You want a nuclear bomb?"

"Yes, it is our bargaining chip." Bazir explained.

"Bargaining chip for what?"

"America says it will never bow down to terrorists, I want to conduct an experiment." Bazir laughed.

"I will start a recruitment drive." Diaz agreed. "This is crazy!"

Mohammed didn't find it funny.

"No, it's called revenge." Ricardo Diaz began to wonder what kind of grudge these guys had against America. But as long as they made him rich, it wasn't his job to find out…

Six months later….

Arshad Hameed was a world famous terrorist, and one of the FBI's most wanted. He had made his early career as an arms dealer for several terrorist organizations, receiving enough money in his accounts that Mossad and the CIA immediately took interest in him.

Of Palestinian birth, he cared little for whether the insurgent groups in his homeland succeeded or not; Arshad was there to make money. He had a wife and son but they were killed in the Gaza strip when a convoy of Israeli and American tanks pulled into Palestine and engaged in battle with the fundamentalist groups.

This enraged Arshad and he refused to accept that his family was gone. After six months, he became the leader of Palestine's branch of the MLA. Arshad arranged car bombings and hostage situations, designed to bring the Israelis to their knees.

But there was still an enemy out there; a more powerful enemy; America.

Oil magnate, Bazir Khan had recruited him to act in one of the terrorist strikes, planned later that year. And here was, on Mexican soil and nearing the land of the infidels.

Arshad loaded his Heckler & Koch MP-5A2 submachine gun, with his bony fingers. It was his preferred choice of a gun, firing bullets quickly at good accuracy.

His brown eyes looked to his right. Next to him were two men, Irfan and Habib. They were supposed to be firearms experts and that was what Arshad was hoping, although he could only truly find out when they served with him. He looked through his Vortex Optics binoculars, and glared on hopefully.

The Lincoln Continental Mark VII came to an abrupt halt. The woman inside was known as Mandy, although nearly everyone knew that was an alias; something to make her capture from counter terrorist organizations harder to come by. Arguably the greatest mercenary out there, Mandy worked for the big players combining her ruthlessness and her ability to lure men onto her.

She was wearing a Shoei motorbike helmet, so as not to reveal her face, and a tight leather jacket.

Mandy climbed out of her car and took out her Motorola V600 cell phone, taking off her helmet. She typed in a number and dialed. She had covered her tracks and the cell phone was encrypted.

"I'm here," came the smooth voice of her inside contact.

"It's Mandy, have you rewired the footage yet?"

"No, I've nearly finished the process." It was a male voice. "Look, I'm a professional that's why I joined the counter intelligence business. Alright, I'm done. You are clear to do your part."

"Thank you," Mandy hung up and put her helmet back on. She lifted open her trunk, and opened a leather briefcase. It was custom made to suit the package it was holding; C4 plastic explosive.

Slamming down the trunk, Mandy wondered what the effects of blowing a hole in the American-Mexican border. But in the mercenary business it was better to know less, it gave you a better chance of surviving if your job went wrong.

Mandy dug a small hole through the sandy terrain next to the border. She placed fourteen pounds of C4 in the hole and then covered it up again. The detonator was already set, thirty seconds.

She sprinted away and leaped into her car. Mandy drove away and looked through her rearview mirror, to see the border roaring in flames. Why couldn't they just hire a _coyote_? It didn't matter, tomorrow morning she would be two million dollars richer and breaking laws was her line of business.

And there was more money to come. Her part wasn't done yet.

_The following took place between 05:00am and 05:20am_

Agent Teddy Hanlin was a high ranking field agent for CTU New York. Hanlin was a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia's Emergency Response Team before joining CTU Los Angeles. He won honors in the MPDC SWAT competition Tactical Shooting events and commendations in weapons knowledge and field reconnaissance. Teddy was also a graduate of the Special Forces Operations Training Course. He was only twenty-seven but was still very brash and overly-confident. Teddy had raven hair and an olive toned skin.

Teddy Hanlin had been reassigned to CTU New York after shooting Alan Morgan, while on a field operation with Jack Bauer. Bauer was his most hated enemy, the man responsible for putting his partner, Seth Campbell away for bribery charges.

For the past eight months, Teddy had been working undercover with a group of suspected Syrian terrorists. He had been given the cover of an American who had grown disillusioned with the White House and wanted a change in office.

The leader of the group was a devoted Muslim, Yusef Razark, who was formerly an imam at the Finberry Park Mosque in London, prior to moving to New York. Teddy had faked a strong rapport with him in order to gain his trust.

Yusef had taken Teddy under his wing, when he was impressed by his quick-thinking skills in a game of poker. Yusef never wondered what Allah thought of gambling, it was never noted down in the Koran.

05:01:32

Teddy sat in his Jeep Grand Cherokee. He opened up his front compartment and saw a loaded SIG P-210 pistol. There was also a Sony Ericsson T610 cell phone, which is what he was looking for.

"CTU, Nixon." Samantha Nixon, an internet protocol manager at CTU Phoenix answered her phone.

"Samantha," Brett replied.

"Teddy?"

"Look, I've been given a job by Yusef."

"Do you think they're onto you?"

"No, no. If they were onto me I'd be dead by now. These guys don't mess around. Whatever they're working on is something big, and I'm gonna need to get to the bottom of it." Teddy hung up and drove towards Yusef's compound. The terrain was rough and rocky, perfect for Teddy's SUV.

05:03:44

The warehouse was in the middle of the compound, and had metal fencing all around the perimeter. Armed guards patrolled all checkpoints, making sure there were no intruders. The guards communicated back to the warehouse via personal radios.

There was an underground fortress, with communication points nearly everywhere and it was like a military compound down there. That was where Yusef drew up logistics for his operations. Currently, he was waiting for blueprints of an oil tanker.

The walls were painted a dull grey. In the middle of the room there was an old mahogany desk with two wooden chairs. Yusef and his number two Rabah stood still talking to each other.

"I don't trust him." Rabah said. "He's one hell of a suspicious person, I want him out."

"He stays."

"There are others who can do his job."

"No, he has the resources to provide us with what we need, both in monetary and field terms."

"We have enough money as it is. Our operations can run smoothly without him, with very few chinks."

"So what are you suggesting, huh?"

"That we release him from our organization."

"With the knowledge of where our base is?"

"No. I'm suggesting we kill him. I'm not going to let him walk out onto the streets am I?"

Teddy kicked open the door. Rabah immediately drew his Desert Eagle handgun and pointed it at Agent Hanlin's head. Teddy responded by pulling his SIG P-210 from its holster. The tension between Rabah and Teddy had always annoyed Yusef.

"Put the guns away." He ordered, circling the room but neither of them was listening. "I said put the guns away!"

Teddy put his gun into its holster, but Rabah still kept aim. The silence lasted a long time, and Teddy's heart was pounding. Whatever they were going to do was coming up soon, and once they had done it they wouldn't hesitate in killing him.

"Those are the blueprints you wanted," Brett threw them on the table. He had been asked to collect them, probably just to keep him off the scent. "Now let's talk about where I stand in this organization."

"We'll tell you where you stand and if you don't like it you can…" Rabah raised his semi-automatic.

"I can what? I've been running errands for you for the past year and a half, and I've got nothing to show for it! Now unless I start being cut in, I walk!" Teddy knew he should shut up, but he wasn't going to let the death of someone rest on his conscience.

"I know how much doing these piss ass jobs kills you, I know you want more." Yusef walked over to the table and picked up the blueprints. ""You're gonna get more. A friend of ours, a guy by the name of Omar Hasan is gonna be pulling a small job for us later today. He got together with a group of people and they've proven to be pretty resourceful."

"I heard Omar Hasan moved out West." Teddy was confused.

"He did." Yusef said coolly. "And that's where it's all taking place."

"What's taking place?"

"Think along the lines of a dirty bomb." Yusef smiled.

"Nuclear?" Teddy saw Yusef nod. "Alright!" He faked a smile. _Now he needed to get out and fast! _ "I'm gonna go get some air." Teddy rushed to the door.

"Come back here!" Yusef shouted. Teddy's heart pounded and he reached for his gun. _Was this the end, _he asked himself. But he had no choice but to turn around. "Thanks."

Teddy's heart was filled with relief, as he hurried down the corridor.

05:09:32

Jack Bauer opened his eyes. He looked at his alarm clock. The time read 05:10, he still had lots of time. Today was a big day for him, Jack got out of the double bed and decided to go for a walk. Opening the door, he looked at her, Audrey Raines. She was the only person he had truly loved after Teri, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. One thing Jack did was learn from his mistakes.

He shut the door and smiled at the cleaner, as he headed down to the Hotel Lobby.

05:12:04

"They're planning on detonating a nuclear device in Los Angeles." Teddy said into the bunker's phone.

"What? Why aren't you calling me on your cell, this line can be tapped!" Agent Nixon asked.

"No, I don't have a choice. The bunker I'm in blocks cell signals now listen to me. I don't know many details."

"Well tell me what you got, when?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, I'll patch you through to Los Angeles CTU." Samantha pressed a few buttons on her keyboard.

"No don't!"

"Why not?"

"I served under Driscoll, she'll panic!"

"Teddy, she has some of the best qualifications you could have!"

"And I respect her for that." Teddy conceded. "But I'm not having her screw things up."

"Well I can't do nothing! I'll tell Sonia."

"She'll inform Driscoll, don't!" Agent Hanlin pleaded. "Here's what I need you to do. I want you to contact Lynn McGill over at LA Division. Tell him that I'll meet him at Los Angeles International Airport at ten o'clock. Okay, now I need you to arrange a flight to Los Angeles."

"You can't do that; Sonia will never agree to it." Nixon protested.

"I'm going around Sonia."

"Oh shit," Samantha looked at her monitor.

"Look I know…"

"Teddy, the phone line's been tapped!"

"Damn it!"

"You need to get out of there, I'll send a chopper."

"Give me twenty minutes to lockdown the base and take everyone out!" Teddy cocked his semi-automatic.

"Are you crazy? You need to wait for backup."

"If I don't kill these guys now, your life is gonna be in danger. I'll get back to you in twenty minutes." Teddy hung up and kicked open the wooden door, which broke off its rusty hinges.

In the corridor there was a point-point communication box. Teddy didn't know how to operate it, so he simply shot three the bullets at the power circuit. _There was no way the terrorists were getting out alive._

"We need to take this son of a bitch out!" Yusef said to Rabah as he loaded his Ingram MAC 10. The Ingram was a compact and reliable submachine gun, due to its incredible high rate of fire.

"What are we gonna do with the girl?" Rabah asked, filling up his empty Desert Eagle magazine.

"Get to Teddy first, I can order a hit on her after. But we need to hurry up, this place is gonna be crawling in a minute." Yusef spoke into his walkie-talkie, or personal radio as he liked to call it. "Everybody in the building, we need to eliminate Teddy. I'll explain later just do your jobs!"

Teddy peaked through the open doorframe, looking into the arms room. Two armed guards were there, both carrying Jackhammer shotguns. Calculating his options, Teddy raised his pistol rolled on his side and fired twice. Both were on target. The two Middle-Eastern terrorists stumbled to the ground.

Breathing deeply, Teddy leapt up and sprinted into the arms room. Opening an old wardrobe, Hanlin grabbed a Heckler & Koch MP-5A2 submachine gun and jogged to the hall.

The hall was long and narrow, and was painted black. Close Combat Warfare was loathed by Teddy, he was a sniper after all, but it was a matter of life that things didn't always go your way.

Teddy paced down the hall, scanning the vicinity once every so often to make sure he wasn't falling into an ambush. So far so good, he wasn't. Teddy 'hugged' (stayed tight to) the wall as he took the right curve. Again he peeked around the corner. Two men; two enemies.

The gunshots were loud and the accuracy was missing slightly, but they were doing their job. He moved into the sofa room, and at a ninety degree angle noticed another terrorist. In a split second he was lying on the floor. Teddy proceeded. The sofa room was a dead end.

Agent Hanlin came out of the room, scanning for enemies. Looking up, he took the ladder, which led him to an open catwalk on the second floor. Climbing was part of the Special Operations Training Course, so Teddy had no problems.

He smashed through the next door and shot down another militant terrorist. Teddy looked around. The control room was arguably the hardest part to operate in any government building, let alone a terrorist training camp. Teddy wasn't going to touch anything, apart from a security keycard which was lying unattended on a mahogany table.

Teddy understood the situation; five minutes to terminate Yusef and Rabah's lives and escape with his intact.

He walked out of the room, again being cautious for hostiles. This time he saw one. _Lucky me_, Teddy thought as the armed guard fell over the balcony and onto the hallway floors.

Agent Hanlin slid down the wooden ladder, which burnt his hands severely, although he didn't notice it as adrenaline was masking the pain. Behind the ladder was a yellow switch, which triggered a base lockdown. Teddy did just that.

Four minutes to get out…

He pressed the red button next to the yellow one. Teddy sprinted to his right and stepped into the elevator. At the push of a button, Hanlin was out in the open in a matter of seconds.

He ran along the rough terrain to his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Once inside, Teddy dropped the MP5 and got the SUV going. He saw a set of armed guards on a set of hilly land. They were targets. He accelerated onto them, and when Teddy hit them, they were goners.

Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy noticed Yusef and Rabah. They fired at his tires first and then moved onto his engine. Teddy accelerated the car, before bailing out. The engine exploded in a ball of fire.

Deafened by the noise, Teddy took several seconds to rise to his feet. He saw Rabah lying dead and Yusef struggling to move.

"Get up." Teddy put the end of his SIG P-210 on the back of Yusef's head. "Get up!" Teddy could now hear the CTU chopper, which was beginning its descent.

"You're too late." Yusef smirked, "It is just a shame that I won't be able to witness the downfall of your country."

"Son of a bitch!" Teddy walked away. _Wait what am I doing,_ he thought. Teddy swiveled around and emptied his magazine on Yusef. The chopper couldn't hear anything because it was descending. Teddy knew he had just killed a man in cold blood, fine by him.

Agent Hanlin ran over to the chopper and climbed into the cockpit.

"You need to get me to the airport!" Teddy ordered, buckling his seatbelt.

"My orders are…" the pilot began.

"I don't care what your orders are! Get to the airport!"

"Yes sir," the pilot ascended the chopper as Teddy lay back.

_His war on terror had begun…_

5:20am


	3. 09:0010:00

Chapter One

The Return

_The following takes place between 9:00am and 10:00am_

Jack Bauer walked out of the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel. He was wearing a white collared shirt and a black silk tie, which he thought was a great shirt-tie combination.

Jack was a Federal Agent who was working for the DoD, as Secretary Heller's advisor. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor's degree in English literature and also graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Master's degree in Criminology and Law.

After his time at University, Jack attended the LASD – the Basic SWAT school, before later attending the Special Forces Operations course. Jack worked as a SWAT team member as a Special Weapons and Tactics expert for the Los Angeles Police Department, before he went onto work for the Delta Force Counter Terrorist Group.

Jack worked as a CIA field agent, before he was offered the job as the Counter Terrorist Unit's Special Agent in charge. He resigned from that job after his wife Teri, and daughter Kim, were kidnapped, resulting in the murder of Teri by CTU double agent, Nina Myers.

After successfully helping CTU prevent a nuclear bomb from going off, Special Agent in Charge, Tony Almeida appointed Jack as the Director of Field Operations. He then became addicted to heroin and was sacked by new CTU Director, Erin Driscoll.

Jack then was employed by the Secretary of Defence, James Heller as an advisor.

"How are you doing?" Audrey Raines asked Jack. The cool sound of her voice comforted Jack. Raines had a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Brown University and a B.A. in English from Yale University. Her father was James Heller and she had one brother, an anti-war protester, Richard. Before joining the Department of Defence, Raines was a Consultant for Government Contracts with Anderson Aerospace Corporation. Before that she was a Government Liaison and Registered Lobbyist with Ballard Technology. She began her career as a Legislative Assistant for a U.S. Representative on the House Armed Services Committee.

"I'm fine." Jack responded as they walked through the Four Seasons lobby together. "Look about last night, can we…"

"No Jack, I'm not ready."

"That's what you said the night before."

"Jack, I'll do it in my own time."

"In your own time? It has been eight damn months!"

"Jack why can't you listen…"

"Audrey, don't. You don't want to tell him? Fine, but I don't how much longer I can continue this."

"Just try."

"I will, believe me." Jack pushed the door open and held it for Audrey.

"Thanks."

"Is Secretary Heller already in the car?"

"Yep." Audrey and Jack looked at the Cadillac DTS limousine that was in front of them.

"Seems like Heller wants to travel in style." Jack laughed.

"Actually, President Keeler arranged it." The sun was beating down on Los Angeles, it was a day tailor made for outside. Jack thought about when he and Teri would take Kim down to the beach on days like this.

Secret Service Agents opened the door to the limousine, and Jack and Audrey gratefully entered. Inside Secretary Heller was sitting in his leather seat on top of an adaptive, massaging cushion.

Jack and Audrey both buckled their seatbelts and sat back in their seats.

"How are you feeling, Jack?" Audrey asked him, trying to show the Secretary that they hadn't met up prior to reaching the Cadillac.

"I'm fine." Jack replied. "Seeing Erin again won't be easy by any means, but I've overcome my addiction and I'm onto bigger and better things."

Secretary Heller was due to arrive at CTU at 09:15. He had been asked by President Keeler to budget CTU for the coming year and arrange a private meeting with Erin Driscoll.

"Glad to hear it." Heller said. There was a long pause. "Our meeting with Driscoll and Agent Almeida is in fifteen minutes. We're late." The limousine driver started the car up and began to drive it towards CTU.

"Did you say Tony Almeida?" Jack asked, stunned by Heller's words.

"Yes."

"I thought he was doing a reduced sentence for treason." Jack said.

"No. Palmer's last act was to give him a full pardon." Heller replied. "Turns out that Division's new Director, James Radford had him reinstated. Anyway, I thought he was your friend?"

"He was… is! It's just since I've been with the DoD I've tried to remove all elements of CTU from my life." Jack explained.

"I understand." The Secretary of Defence said.

"Secretary Heller have you told Jack about our reasons for heading to CTU?" Audrey asked her father. Jack smiled; he had always found it funny how Audrey referred to her father as Secretary Heller.

"No, he didn't I presumed it was a routine check." Jack hinted for Heller to explain.

"No." Heller responded. "President Keeler wants me to the budgeting for CTU this coming year."

"Then why do I have to be with you?"

"As you know, President Keeler is running for re-election this term." Heller began.

"Yeah." Jack still didn't understand.

"Turns out he deems CTU as being a waste of money over the past eighteen months." The Secretary began to explain. "He might reduce CTU's responsibilities if he is re-elected and hand over the majority of them to the Bureau."

"That involves me how?" Jack asked

"You've seen a successful CTU function properly, I want your expert opinion as to whether this current one is functioning."

"I see."

09:04:21

Davis Associates, Maryland was directly opposite of the NSA's headquarters at Fort Meade. The building dealt in shares and stocks, at least that was what the public believed. But that was a lie.

The real purpose of Davis Associates was to interrogate terrorist suspects, and go further than the NSA could. It was set up with the knowledge of President Mike Hodges and the then Director of NSA, Roger Stanton.

Joseph Darcet screamed again as the electrical current burned his insides. For the past three hours he had been tortured in the hope that he would give them the information that the two torturers wanted. Their names were George Stanford and Jimmy Mayer.

Joseph Darcet was forty-eight years old, and had chosen his line of the work in the mercenary and terrorism businesses. Darcet had been having money pumped to his account by a man he didn't know, Graham Samways.

His brown eyes were full of fear and pain as he continued to be tortured. His streaky brown hair was greasy with sweat.

"Talk to me you son of a bitch!" Stanford shouted at the sweating Darcet.

"I told you about Wilson! You said you would cut me a deal." Joseph pleaded. Jimmy Mayer tazered the weeping Darcet. He screamed louder than he had ever done before, but the walls were soundproof and nobody could hear him.

"I can't go much higher in my electrical frequency. If you fail to comply I will increase the power of the electrical current over and over again. It will eventually kill you but it will be a slow death and before the end you will wish you had never been born. C'mon you know you should." Mayer explained.

"Fuck you!" Darcet spat at Mayer. Agent Mayer wiped the saliva off his forehead and spoke coolly.

"Up the frequency!" He ordered Stanford and then glared at Darcet. "Talk you son of a bitch!"

CTU Los Angeles

09:07:47

Erin Driscoll arrived at CTU Los Angeles. She was two hours late and was stressed out beyond belief. Sweat was visible on her forehead. The pressure of running an under-fire CTU domestic unit was getting to her; she wondered why she had ever left Division. Her life was never easy; she had raised a schizophrenic daughter by herself as well as becoming one of Division's top agents.

She showed her ID to the female receptionist. The female receptionist's name was Melissa Chavez; she had raven hair and soft, comforting brown eyes, tucked away under her thick-rimmed Lorgnette spectacles.

On her ID there was a small photo of Erin, looking her usual serious and less than bubbly self. She was able to access Level Five information; the highest possible level of intelligence.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Erin forced a smile. She had medium-long brown hair with brown eyes. Erin was wearing a blue silk shirt with a black suit.

"It's no problem, Ms Driscoll." Melissa smiled. "After all you give the orders."

"Thanks." Erin walked over to the steel doors. She swiped her card through the security check appliance, and entered the Bull-Pen.

CTU Los Angeles was based around the main floor section known as the bull-pen. The bull-pen was made up of two levels and contained many desks on the lower level and a walkway on the higher level. The lower level was also home to the briefing room and linked to the holding rooms, where suspects were interrogated.

The new CTU Los Angeles had a new communication system, used to save time and effort. A VoIP system at each desk allowed agents to contact each other without moving across to the recipient, a system which saved vital seconds in an emergency. The new holding room was much more sophisticated with equipment added to discover the reactions of the person being interviewed. The holding room had two sections, the first one, a room with computers and monitors in which looks into the main room through the usage of a one way mirror. The main room was bare and held just a table and chairs.

CTU Los Angeles also had several Tech Rooms around the building. The primary tech room was Tech 1, which was shielded from EMPs. The room was centered around a circular station with several monitors.

An angry Chloe O'Brian tapped on her keyboard furiously, each key receiving a loud sound. For the past three and a half hours Chloe had been working on filing, something which infuriated her.

"You're late!" Chloe muttered as her boss walked passed her. Chloe O'Brian was a Senior Analyst with the Los Angeles unit of the Counter Terrorist Unit. She had previously served as an intelligence agent and internet protocol manager at that unit. A graduate of the University of California at Davis, with a B.S. degree in Computer Science, O'Brian had expertise in attacks scripts, computer vulnerabilities, intrusion detection, penetration testing, operational security, viruses Proficiency in Cerberus and PlutoPlus. She had also built the IPSec architecture. "Why?"

Erin paused and looked down at the temperamental Chloe.

"Oh Chloe, not today please. I had things to attend to."

"Yeah." The blonde haired, green eyed CTU analyst said in a sarcastic manner. "But so does everyone else in this building and while they're busy doing work you're out, leaving everyone with nobody to report to. You're lucky none of us informed Radford."

"Chloe?"

"Listening." O'Brian clicked he ballpoint pen.

"Shut up!" Erin snapped starting to put the anti-social analyst in her place. "You ever had kids?"

"What do you think?"

"Exactly, so when I'm the only person making sure my daughter is safe, I don't need you giving me a lecture on how to run my life. Just be a little understandable."

"Erin, like you were understandable towards Jack?"

"Chloe just leave it, I'm not interested." Erin Driscoll walked up a set of metal stairs leading to her own private office.

Chloe looked up from her computer system and looked at Erin; _something was going on but what?_

Erin opened the glass door to her office. Inside there was a long mahogany desk and a Windows XP computer. Next to her monitor there was a phone, where she often received phone calls from Langley and Fort Meade.

Her face sank as she looked at the huge stack of paperwork Divisional Director James Radford had given her. _Better get on with it, _she thought.

"Oh God, not today." Erin complained sitting down on her adaptable chair. She reached over and turned her desktop on, and then went to put the kettle on. Erin then diverted her attention to making a phone call.

"St Mark's Hospital, how can I help?" the deep-voiced male receptionist asked.

"Hi, my daughter was brought into your hospital earlier this morning."

"Can I have a name please?"

"Sure thing; Erin Driscoll."

"Frank Driscoll's mother?"

"No. Maya Driscoll; the rape victim." Erin sobbed, reaching for a tissue. She had to hold herself together today.

"Oh, sorry. Look do you want anything?"

"Yes please."

"Would it be possible for me to receive updates on her condition?"

"Sure."

"Can you phone me back on this number?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." Erin hung up. _Was she doing the best thing for her daughter?_

09:15:11

Ronnie Lobell was the Director of Field Operations at CTU LA. He had a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology and Law from Harvard University. He worked as an Intelligence Agent at CTU Denver, but was later given the role of Director of Field Ops.

He continued to proof read the papers he had bee given; Ronnie was neither excited nor good at doing paperwork. So when James Radford had asked him to look into the case of a raid on the American-Mexican border; he had picked the wrong guy.

Erin knocked on the door to Ronnie's office. He looked up and saw his boss standing at the doorway, sipping coffee.

"Hey." Erin said.

"Hello Erin," Ronnie smiled. "How you doing?"

"I'm fine." Erin told a lie and sat down. "Radford got you doing paperwork again?"

"Yep. It turns out that there was an explosion last night at the America-Mexico border."

"How many dead?" Erin asked.

"Twelve, all US military. It was a remote controlled C4 device that the attackers used."

"How many people went through?"

"That's the issue. Some of the CCTV cameras were still active after the explosion and nobody crossed the border."

"Is it possible someone could have rewired the footage?"

"Anything is possible, but the fact is only a select few have that clearance."

"That sounds odd."

"Sure does. What you working on?"

"NSA got some French Mercenary to talk. He revealed something about an ex-CTU agent, Pete Wilson being involved in some sort of terrorist activity. Division wants me to bring Wilson in. You know anything about Wilson?"

"You're asking the wrong guy here, Erin. I never heard of the guy, he probably worked here when I was over at CTU Denver."

"Just cross-check the databases, please?"

"Edgar is probably more suited to do it, I'll go get him." Ronnie said and looked up from his monitor to see Erin in tears. "Hey, what's up?"

"It's Maya." Erin sobbed.

"What happened?"

"She snuck out of the house. When I found her some guys had attacked her, broken her jaw and her ribs. She told me that the guys…" Erin struggled. "Raped her!"

Ronnie got up and hugged his boss. She had never had life easy but those guys had nearly ruined her life.

"Look here. You need to get over to the hospital and stay with Maya."

"I can't. You know about Keeler's plans for CTU, I have to show that I can run this branch of the agency."

"Erin? Please go after that, you owe it to Maya. I'll go get Edgar." Ronnie headed for the door.

"Ronnie?" Erin asked, waiting for the Head of Field Ops to turn around. "Thanks."

"No problem." Ronnie walked out of the room.

09:18:58

Jack stepped out of the limousine, the doors being held open by Secret Service agents. His mind flashbacked to when he chased Nina Myers as she tried to escape. But she was dead now, he had to move on.

"What are we doing first?" Audrey asked her father as the three Department of Defense officials walked through the dimly lit underground parking lot.

"We'll get a coffee and then go over budgeting with Ms Driscoll." The Secretary of Defense explained.

"Do you want me to be present?" Jack asked, trying to avoid having to face the cold hearted bitch he knew as Erin Driscoll.

"Of course. I want the both of you to be there."

Jack laughed to himself as they pushed open the steel doors to the Bull-Pen.

"I wish these Iranian anti-terrorism police did a better job at picking these guys up at the airport." Chase Edmunds, now a CTU intelligence and part time field agent angrily said. He had undergone an operation to apply a false arm to his body.

"Yeah," Tony looked up from Chase's workstation and saw Jack and Heller entering. "Look get me the background checks on this Abdul Kamas. What cities he's passed before reaching here."

"You got it," Chase said and looked over to his right and towards Chloe's workstation.

"Hey guys," Tony smiled and gave his hand to three DoD agents. They all shook hands. "Erm… Driscoll's just finishing off an analysis report in her office, she'll be ready soon."

"I see." Heller said.

"You guys want a coffee?" Tony asked, clicking his ballpoint pen.

"Please," Audrey smiled.

"Jack, can I have a word?" Tony asked.

"Sure." Jack and Tony walked towards the coffee vending machine.

"How have things been? I mean Driscoll was out of line…"

"Tony, she wasn't! I was addicted to heroin and unlike you she wasn't going to take the risk of having an ex-junkie on her staff." Jack didn't like to be reminded of how Erin was not understandable towards him.

"Even so…"

"Great."

"Good."

"We're divorced as of two months ago."

"What? Why?"

"I became an alcoholic and pushed her away. She's at CTU Seattle. Look Frank, I didn't want to have a word with you about our social lives."

"What did you want to talk to me about then?"

"Do you remember a guy named Pete Wilson?"

"I think so. Special Ops? Yeah. I fired him for his cocaine addiction." _How ironic,_ Jack thought. "Why?"

"Well our new District Director, a James Radford, wants us to arrest Wilson. But we have no leads."

"Alright, go through the usual process. Check his bank accounts; who's your senior analyst?"

"Chloe."

"Okay. Get her to hack into his account and check his transactions. I take it we don't know where Wilson is?"

"Correct. I've drawn up a list of likely addresses."

"Great, give them to me."  
"Jack, you're not on the case."

"If Erin wants to find Wilson, she's gonna need me. Get me the list."

Curtis Manning, the Head of Tactical Operations at CTU LA, walked around the Bull-Pen. He looked towards Chase and walked towards him.

"What did you get on Kamas?" the tall Curtis asked. Agent Manning came to CTU Los Angeles from CTU Boston, where he was an analyst and Director of Field Operations. Before joining CTU Boston, Curtis headed up the Boston Police Department's SWAT Unit and even prior to that served in the US Army's Second Infantry Brigade.

He graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. degree in Sociology.

"Do you want everything?"  
"I'm about to brief the whole team on him so yeah."

"Kamas was born in Al Ihsa, Saudi Arabia, we don't know the exact year." Chase began. "Born in Saudi Arabia he moved to Iran as they were less strict about international terrorism. Not believed to have been sponsored by any states, although for a guy from a poor background, he does seem to have a huge net worth. Fought with Al Qaeda as they aimed to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet control, the guy kept his nose clean until five years ago."

"What happened then?" Curtis asked jotting down notes on his notepad.

"He began a reign of terror in Israel, most notably the Gaza strip. He financed a number of operations to detonate suicide bombs on Israeli soil. Later that year he came into contact with a radical group known as the MLA or Muslim Liberation Army. That sort of marked his transition from terrorist financier and sympathiser to an international terrorist. David has the details on rewards and other crimes he has commited."

"Alright thanks, Chase." Curtis walked over to Internet Protocol Manager David Martin's workstation. "Chase says you were digging up dirt on this guy Kamas."

"Yeah, and he's filthy!" David exclaimed. David Martin was an intelligence analyst and internet protocol manager at CTU Los Angeles. Martin possessed a B.S. in Computer Applications from New York University. He had expertise in working with operating systems, distributed systems, informational retrieval and wireless networks. "This guy Kamas used to float around in London for a long time. He developed what we should say _friendly_ relationship with a lady of the night known as Rosalie Parker. MI6 had set up to meet her at Tower Bridge."

"What happened?" Curtis asked.

"She didn't show up, they found her a few weeks later in a meat processing plant, where Kamas was working. The tabloids believed it to be a serial killer and gave the murderer the name 'the Butcher."

"It was Kamas?"

"Yeah, at least that's what Langley and MI6 believe. But this guy Kamas is a maniac."

"What did he do?"

"He skinned her alive. And that's not it. Her organs were missing, he stitched her chest up. The British authorities found her organs and did tests on them. It turns out she wasn't skinned alive, Ms Parker was injected with a chemical agent."

"And now he's here in LA?"

"Yep, spotted ten hours ago."

"Did they identify what she was injected with?"

"No, it's an unknown chemical but they do know she died instantly. Her heart exploded."

"Jesus."

"Finally, you heard about the accident at King's Cross station?"

"Yeah, a fuel tank burst or something."

"If only it was that simple." David sighed. "The victim's bodies were sent to forensics for analysis. They came up with a rather interesting find. Gas Canisters were detonated underneath a set of escalators. It was VX nerve gas but it also contained a strain of the Ebola virus which is remarkably similar to the Cordilla Virus that Saunders tried to release. What caused the fuel tank to burst was an explosion. The terrorists attached a corrosive agent to the nerve gas and it burns everything in its way."

"So what are we saying here?" Curtis asked.

"If you don't die from being exposed to the VX or being burnt alive, your gonna be spreading Ebola everywhere. It's likely Kamas was using Rosalie Parker as a guinea pig."

"So are we saying that Kamas is likely to be in possession of the virus?"

"Yeah."

"Finding Kamas is now our joint priority with finding Wilson. Draw up a list of all his associates in this country; we need to get this thing up and running."

09:27:04

Jack was sat in between the Secretary and Audrey. Erin had changed her mind and asked Tony not to be present at the meeting.

"Guys, I'm going to be frank, I don't like the proposed offer one bit. Look you want the Department of Defence to have eighty five per cent. Where does it leave CTU?" Erin asked.

"CTU will still be a running agency. And as the Secretary of Defence, I will make sure that CTU has enough money to run the investigations that Division wants of you." Heller responded.

"I understand that but CTU then has nothing left in terms of gathering intelligence." Driscoll protested.

"Utilize the intel from Langley and Fort Meade." Jack thought out loud.

"Jack, when you were at CTU didn't you have a much bigger budget?" Erin asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes he did. But that was when CTU was getting results and over the past eighteen months you haven't produced anything." Heller explained.

"That means we're doing our job!" Erin exclaimed as the phone rang. She picked up and answered it. "Driscoll,"

"It's Chris Beckington at Fort Meade. I regret to inform you that Darcet committed suicide."

"What? How?"

"The charges weren't doing anything. We began to inject him with a variety of chemicals. He stabbed himself in the heart with them. He overdosed."

"Damn it! Where does that leaves us?"

"I don't know he said something about a strike at 11:45."

"Great," Erin said sarcastically. "I'll inform the SWAT units here." Erin hung up and breathed deeply.

"What was that about?" Jack asked.

"NSA was interrogating a man named Joseph Darcet, he told us about the intel on Wilson. He committed suicide. He said something about a strike at 11:45."

"Reinstate me!" Jack probably didn't think it through.

"Are you out of your mind, Jack? Don't you remember? I don't want you on my staff here!" Erin shouted.

"Erin if you want to prevent this strike, you need me!" Jack replied.

"He's right Erin. If we get him to an associate of Wilson, he'll get them to talk. He is an interrogation expert after all." Heller observed.

"Interrogation expert? More like loose cannon! How do I know he won't do to Wilson what he did to Marshall Goren?" Erin protested.

"Erin even if Jack is a loose cannon he has a proven track record. Look what he did eighteen months ago."

"What did he do, eh? Murder Ryan Chappelle?" Erin asked rhetorically.

"Erin!" Audrey couldn't believe how cruel this woman was becoming.

"Put him on the case!" Heller ordered.

There was a long pause as everyone gathered their thoughts.

"Alright, but this on my terms. You'll go out with Ronnie Lobell; he's Director of Field Operations. Any erratic behaviour and you're off the case, no questions asked." Erin explained.

"Thank you. You won't regret this!" Jack exclaimed.

"No correct, I won't! You might not have followed what Chappelle, Mason or Tony said, but I swear to God you will follow me. Go!"

Jack hurried down the stairs, wanting to begin his investigation. He walked over to Tony's workstation.

"She's got me on the case!" Jack exclaimed. The thrill of the chase gave Jack an unusual buzz. Tony looked on at Jack in disbelief. _How does he do it? _Tony asked himself. "Get me the list of addresses!"

Adam Kauffman turned around and listened in on the conversation.

"That's all we have, I'm afraid." Curtis explained, standing at the front of the situation room. He was briefing Edgar and Chloe on the Kamas situation. "This guy Kamas knows his trade, he's covered his tracks."

"This doesn't really fit with his style." Chloe observed. "Kamas never makes a mistake; I think he's doing this deliberately."

"But it would compromise whatever he's planning on doing." A shocked Curtis failed to understand Chloe's theory.

"Unless he was trying to distract us from something else." Edgar sighed.

"What could be more dangerous than this strain of VX?" Curtis asked.

"I don't know. But I don't like this." Chloe said. "I'm gonna try and get into contact with Dr Sunny Macer of the NHS and see if she knows any places where this virus could be manufactured."

"You do that, Chloe." Curtis ordered. "If we don't get to Kamas or the virus before it is released on the public, I don't want to think of the consequences."

09:37:50

Burly Colombian, Ricardo Diaz was sat in his office by his mahogany desk. He took a sip of his Tropicana and then phoned Mohammed.

"All things on my end are on schedule." Diaz said. "Wilson told me the tanker was taken over comfortably. How are things with Kamas?"

"Kamas has been sighted by the CTU." Mohammed revealed. "But he is a smart man and CTU are doing what we want them to do. Kamas is diverting them from the real trouble."

"Wolf has told me that the famous Jack Bauer has been reinstated." Diaz grinned. Wolf was the codename for a mole positioned in CTU.

"I've had experience with him and believe me Jack Bauer is not gonna be a problem." Mohammed said. "Are they going after Wilson?"

"Yeah." Diaz replied. "They're drawing up the addresses. Are your teams in position?"

"My teams are ready. They will take fifteen minutes to be at the Wilson residence. I still take it that Wilson will be eliminated once he has served his purpose."

"Correct; he doesn't know what he's getting into."

09:39:44

Tony wrote the last address down on the piece of A4 paper. Jack was going to head out into the field in a few minutes with Ronnie Lobell.

"There you have the list of addresses." Agent Almeida said handing Jack the piece of paper which quickly found its way into Jack's trouser pocket. Jack got rid of his tie and ditched his suit too. "I recommend you start with the Wilson house."

"Why?" Jack asked undoing his top button.

"Just a hunch, Paula, his wife, might know his hideouts." Tony explained.

"Whatever you say."

"Jack!" Chase smiled as he looked at his old partner.

"Chase, how are ya?" Jack asked.

"I'm fine, how's Kim?" Chase and Kim had broken up for a variety of reasons. Kim wanted to pursue a career in Valencia while Chase wanted to stay with CTU. Kim had started seeing Arab-American, Rafi Ahmed.

"She's fine, recently moved back to LA." Jack knew the next piece of news was going to hurt Chase, hurt him bad. "I should have told you earlier… uh," Chase looked on knowing something about Kim was about to be revealed. "I don't like it anymore than you do but Kim and Abdullah are getting married."

Chase's heart sunk.

"Tell them I give them best wishes." Chase said, doing an awful job at hiding his emotions. "Look I just wanted to say hey, I got some work to do."

"Sure." Jack knew Chase was hurt.

"Bauer!" Ronnie shouted and threw him a black Bulletproof vest. Ronnie waited for Jack to put on the vest before he spoke again. "Meet Howard Bern, one of our elite field agents."

"Pleased to meet you." Jack shook hands with Agent Bern.

"You carrying?" Ronnie asked loading his Desert Eagle magazine.

"Yeah; USP Compact." Jack replied. "Tony recommends we go to the Wilson residence first."

"Okay, but we need to hurry up. The scheduled time for the attack is 11:45." Ronnie, Jack and Howard Bern walked down to the underground parking lot.

"Alright." Jack nodded. "We need to get Paula Wilson to talk, I take it I can use all methods to extract the information from her."

"Nope. I'm not making any guarantees here, Jack." Ronnie replied climbing into the Ford Escort drivers' seat.

"Ronnie, you know just as well as I do that you need…" Jack began as he climbed into the passenger's seat. Agent Bern buckled his seatbelt in the back.

"I'm gonna be honest, if it was up to me you wouldn't have even entered CTU today. You follow my orders."

"Understood. But let me make one thing clear," Jack buckled his seatbelt. "If I don't thing we're getting anywhere, I'll take matters into my own hands."

"Jack if you do that, I swear on my life you will live to regret it."

"We'll see." Jack said.

"Yeah, we will." Ronnie put his car key into the ignition and began to drive away.

09:42:04

_It's a funny thing being the most powerful man in the world,_ President John Keeler thought to himself. He had never quite pictured the situation. Every President had a legacy, Keeler knew that.

David Palmer was the first black man ever to hold office. Keeler, for all his disagreement with Palmer's policies respected the man and his legacy. _But was this going to be his? _An arms treaty? He wanted to leave his mark but all his time in office had been dogged by President Juan Gomez's mass acts of terror against his own people.

"It's not long." Vice President Charles Logan smiled as he sat facing the President, who was at his desk. "Naji Araz and his Iranian officials arrive tomorrow morning."

The President and his aides had based themselves at the LA retreat for the past three days. Iran, a world superpower that had supported Venezuela along with China and several other states. After a period of prolonged negotiation with Naji Araz, Iran supported America in the embargo. To secure an alliance, President Keeler proposed a signing of an arms treaty, something that the Iranians greeted with open arms.

"I am aware of that Charles." The President said, sitting in his leather chair. "I'm just tired. The whole Venezuela crisis is taking its toll on me."

"I understand. Gomez has been playing dirty ever since he moved into office." Logan said. "But you can't call off the embargo, he will score a victory."

"Yes." Keeler knew that. "But everyday I see on the news this pipeline has blown up, this rig stormed by terrorists. People inside OPEC want me to call off this embargo. I…"

National Security Advisor Eric Rayburn walked into the President's office without knocking.

"Sir I have urgent news," Rayburn said, hinting he wanted Logan to leave the room.

"Charles please excuse us." Keeler smiled. "I'll be out soon."

"Yes, Mr President." Logan took his binders off the desk and left the room. The door was firmly shut and Keeler proceeded. "What is it Eric?"

"It's not good news." Eric said morbidly. "Four months ago you sanctioned a covert operation for the Navy Seals to 'dispose' of a chemical agent plant in North East Colombia."

"Yes."

"The plant was cleared out before the squad got there." Eric continued. "We engaged with a team of highly trained armed gunmen. We just found out these gunmen belonged to a terrorist group known as 'Aguila Rota', literally broken eagle. Financial experts at the FBI managed to find out that the six gunmen were paid off by someone inside the Venezuelan government."

"Gomez?" President Keeler asked.

"Yes, but it gets even worse. We tried to trace all the chemical weapons that were at the plant. They've gone missing. But one of the chemical weapons was a virus containing Ebola. A virus that matches that was detonated in London."

"So this weapon could be in terrorist hands?"

"There's no could about it, this weapon _is _in terrorist hands." Eric said. "If the Venezuelan President is complicit, we have to start thinking of a counter strike plan."

"Eric you do know what that means?"

"I am fully aware sir, but we cannot allow any state to promote and sponsor terrorism against the United States."

President Keeler breathed deeply; this was his most testing time yet. After gathering his thoughts, he spoke again.

"Get me a video conference with Gomez, tell him it's urgent."

09:45:34

Ronnie knocked on the door of the Wilson house. It was quite large for an inner city house, not that it surprised Ronnie; terrorism was a risky but well paid business.

"Who are you?" Paula Wilson opened the front door and asked, speaking in a Deep South accent.

"Ronnie Lobell," Ronnie replied and showed his ID card. "Head of Field Operations at the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit, can we have a word?"

"What about?" Paula asked. "What do you want from me?"

_We're running out of time,_ Jack thought, reaching for his USP Compact semi-automatic.

"We just wanna ask a few questions." Ronnie explained.

"Why?" the blonde haired Paula asked.

Jack had had enough.

"For God sake, we're running out of time!" Jack waved his pistol in the air and pointed it at Paula. "Move!"

Ronnie knew what Jack was doing was necessary. He walked in with Agent Bern, with Jack at the rear.

"Agent Bern wait here please." Ronnie ordered as he and Jack walked through the short hall and were led by Paula into the kitchen. _Wilson likes cooking, _Jack thought looking at the granite countertops. "Where's Pete?"

"I dunno." Paula said vacantly.

"Don't screw with us, Paula, we're running out of time." Jack said and waited for a few seconds as the three of them stood in silence. "Where is he!"

"I don't know!" Paula shouted back.

"Ronnie?" Jack asked. Ronnie nodded, approving Jack to begin to use other methods.

"Give me his location!" Jack screamed, pointing his gun at Paula. She breathed deeply, panic present on her face. Jack noticed bruising on her right arm. "We can protect you from him, we just need his location."

"I don't know where he is." Paula said. "He hasn't been here for two weeks, but there was a computer chip I found."

"What's on the chip?" Ronnie asked.

"I couldn't break the code; Pete's clever with stuff like that."

"So it's encrypted?" Jack asked, lowering his gun. Paula nodded. "Where is it?"

"In the lounge." Paula led the duo to the open lounge, with French Doors and a computer in the corner. The three of them headed over there and picked up the chip. Jack ran his hand along the desk.

"We need to go," Ronnie said and both he and Jack drew their guns. "Stay down, okay?"

"Yeah," Paula said and crouched behind Jack.

"Howard?" Ronnie asked but there was no response. "Howard?"

The trio went back into the hallway to see Howard lying dead. Ronnie looked at his body in horror.

"We need to get out of here," Jack said and he ran with Paula to the Ford Escort. They all jumped in.

He fired a round at the Ford's engine, one of Mohammed's gunmen. Jack opened a window and returned fire. Paula screamed and took cover. With two clean shots to the head the gunman fell to the floor.

Another gunman armed with an AK-47 appeared next, this time wearing a balaclava.

"Who were those guys?" Paula asked.

"People who don't want you alive." Jack said and then typed a number on his Sony Ericsson T610 cell phone.

"CTU, Driscoll."

"Erin, its Jack." Jack said. "Howard Bern is dead; bullet shot to the back of the neck. I need tactical teams out here; whatever is happening at 11:45 is something big, because certain people don't want us to find out what it is."

"I'll send Tom Baker to come and pick you guys up," Erin said. "Look where are you?"

"Just outside Wilson's house, we're heading to the Sunny Hills Mall." Jack explained.

"Alright stay outside when you get there, Agent Baker will come to get you."

"Thanks,"

Irfan looked through the window of his stolen Ford Explorer. Behind him were three other armed men. Their job; to kill Jack Bauer.

Irfan drove the car out of the parking lot and began to tail the SUV.

09:48:08

"I just got off the phone with Vice President Logan," Tony announced to Secretary Heller and Audrey.

"What did Logan say?" Secretary Heller asked.

"That financial experts at the Bureau have discovered a link between a missing biological weapon and an unknown senior official in the Venezuelan government."

"So Gomez has been sponsoring terrorism?" Audrey asked. "Or someone inside his administration?"

"Both are equal possibilities." Tony said. "Our first priority is still to stop the release of this chemical weapon, and then we'll move onto finding evidence against Gomez?"

"Mr Almeida you do know that this could lead to World War III?" Heller asked.

"Yes sir," Tony said and walked over to his workstation. His phone rang. "CTU, Almeida."

"Tony its Jack, me and Ronnie are at Sunny Hills Mall. Put me through to Erin now," Tony pressed the intercom button and passed the call onto Erin.

"What happens if the virus is released on the public?" Chloe asked Dr Sunny Macer, who was on a projector explaining the effects of the virus via a video conference.

"Well the effects would be huge." Dr Sunny Macer began. "Symptoms would be nosebleeds, persistent vomiting and even breathing difficulties. I'll be honest if the virus is detonated in two different locations, the NHS won't be able to handle the consequences."

"Should President Keeler close all public locations?" Curtis asked, leaning on the table in the Conference room.

"Well," the Doctor said. "It depends how much he does not want mass hysteria. But if he is not one hundred per cent sure he can intercept the virus, it is best that he shuts all public locations off and enforces martial law."

"Okay," Chloe acknowledged. "I take it you have system modules which calculate the risk in terms of numbers. How many casualties are we looking at?"

"I can't say, but I can do a rough prediction. If, for example the virus was detonated at the LA Metro Station it could kill four hundred with the original explosion. Given the fact there is a corrosive agent attached, the Ebola could spread into the outside. There's no way I can really calculate all of this accurately, but we're looking at least a couple of hundred thousand casualties in the first two days. That's not even calculating the fact that the virus could spread. One thing I do know is that if this virus is released, America will fall to its knees."

09:56:54

Jack, Ronnie and Paula crouched behind a Palm Tree. They moved out slowly from the shade and into the light as they saw a SWAT van. Now they were running, faster than ever.

Jack continued to run and then as SWAT officers ran out, saw the bodies of the once SWAT agents. These were impostors.

"Get down!" Jack shouted. But it was too late; Paula fell to the floor, dead. Ronnie screamed in agony as one of the MP5 bullets hit his right shin. "Bastard!"

But nobody could here Jack. Everyone had suddenly disappeared.

"Jack Bauer, put your gun down!" one of the SWAT impostors ordered and ran over to him. Dressed in full gear, you would have hardly have known they were terrorists. Once he had reached Jack, Irfan kneed Jack in the face, breaking his nose instantly. "Give me the chip." Jack did nothing. "Give me the chip!" Jack threw the chip at Irfan.

"Shall we kill them?" the other 'SWAT' officer asked.

"They're far too valuable to kill. Hameed wants them." Irfan smiled and dragged Jack along the floor by his collar. _Erin had better have understood,_ Jack thought to himself.

09:58:31

"How was your flight?" Lynn McGill asked the clearly tired Teddy Hanlin.

"As good as it was ever gonna be at the last minute." Teddy yawned.

"You wanna get a donut?" Lynn asked his friend as they walked to the Diddy Donuts queue.

"No thanks," Teddy said. "Anyway I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening buddy." Lynn said taking a sip of his Starbucks Cappuccino.

"I've been working on an undercover mission for quite a few months." Teddy said. "I uncovered a plot to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles today."

"We need to go then," Lynn said and he and Teddy jogged out of the airport.

"Where?" Teddy asked.

"CTU Los Angeles."

10:00:00


End file.
